EMU 2010-11 Runnin Royals
The Runnin Royals, pictured here during Midnight Madness earlier this season, slipped to No. 8 in the nation after a loss to Randolph-Macon on Dec. 7.

National Upheaval Drops Runnin Royals To No. 8 in Nation

D.J. Hinson and his teammates slipped to No. 8 in the national poll after losing to Randolph-Macon.
D.J. Hinson and his teammates slipped to No. 8 in the national poll after losing to Randolph-Macon.

With the top three teams in the country all losing Saturday night, something had to give in this week’s national poll. It turns out that a lot gave, as nobody in the top 13 kept the same ranking and six different teams received first-place votes. Eastern Mennonite, which lost to then-No. 7 Randolph-Macon on Saturday, was not one of the six and slipped from No. 3 to No. 8.

Despite a convincing win over Hampden-Sydney last Wednesday, the Runnin Royals dropped five spots in this week’s D3hoops.com national poll following their 73-68 loss to the Yellow Jackets.

R-MC, surprisingly, also fell five spots to No. 12, mostly because of a two-point loss to Virginia Wesleyan. The Marlins, which had been No. 9, grabbed three first-place votes and vaulted to No. 3.

Wooster is the new No. 1, taking 12 of the 25 first-place votes and moving up from No. 4. Williams was No. 5 last week and moved up to No. 2. Defending national champion Wiconsin-Stevens Point suffered its first loss and fell to No. 4. Illinois Wesleyan, which had been receiving top votes, lost to unranked Chicago and plummeted from No. 2 to No. 10.

Middlebury rounds out the top five. St. Norbert is sixth, followed by Whitworth, EMU and St. Thomas.

After the crazy week, the only teams in the top 25 to maintain their ranking were No. 14 St. Mary’s (Md.) and No. 15 Franklin & Marshall.

The Runnin Royals have a few days to lick their wounds from Saturday’s loss before heading to Bridgewater for the Don Glick Classic. EMU plays Averett this Saturday at 6:00pm and then takes on Bluefield Sunday at 2:00pm.

See the entire Top 25 poll.